Christmas

oh walter!

enosh and mussa. they're regulars at my house.

another sampling of the crew i roll with

full moon over my tin roof.

Another christmas has come and gone. For me this one was a little different. and a lot quieter. no presents or decorations, (or grandma's hot punch!). Christmas eve was a church service, on the shorter side only 2 hours. it was getting dark and without electricty we cut it short. There was lots of singing, dancing, and druming...my favortite combo. I was asked to do a sining solo for everyone. i graciously declined. They don't know it, but they're all glad i did. They assume everyone was born with a beautiful voice and instinctivley knowing how to harmonize...like them. turns out i don't fall into that category. i tell them its part of the plight of the white man... :). Christmas day started off with a call from mom and dad and amy. it was fun to hear them talk about having just finished the christmas eve chili and were waiting now to go to midnight mass....sad i missed the chili, not so sad i missed trying to stay awake for midnight mass. In the afternoon i went over to my neighbors and had an early dinner. Delicous as usual. I came home with walter and we sat around our fire and read to each other and listen to garth brooks's christmas album. ok i just read to walter but he wanted to read to me too i could see it in his eyes. i capped of the night with another call from home. Grandma Luce's christmas brunch crew called and I got to talk to everyone there. That was awesome and it was hard to choke back the tears while getting to hear grandma's and all my aunts and uncles voices. i finally broke down when i talked to my cousin molly. thanks molls, i was doing so good.

christmas eve i was also greated with the happy diagnosis from the area vetrinarian that walter has contracted a sexually transmitted disease....you didn't know dogs could get those right? me neither. until my dog did. so embarassing. appararently walter has been participating in some extracurricular activities that i was not aware of....i'll be keeping a closer eye from now on. he got his antibiotic shot and is now back to his old self... so natrually i'm worried.

i've now started my next travel adventure. i've started off for dar es salaam for a camping trip. our first stop is here at the district capital of iringa. tonight we will be treated to hot spirings and an indian barbeque by some indian friends of ours here. i'm sure you'll get updates about all of.

much love, and best wishes for the new year!

new phone number again

i had to get a new phone number. why? because i signed up for BBC newsupdates through text messages. what i did not do was check to see how much it cost before i did that. dumb. and there was no way to stop them either and since there isn't a friendly verizon store on every corner... i just had to get a new number. so here it is +255788221863. feel free to call or text anytime, the time change is 11 hours ahead of california just if you were wondering.

waiting....

...for the rain to stop.

...for food to cook

...for walter to stop stealing eggs from the neighbors chickens

...for my packages to come.

...for electricity to return

...for the internet to work

...for christmas and new years



the rain is making me crazy. i spent the last few days under house arrest. i'm going a little stir crazy. cooking is harder than usual because my charcoal is wet and won't light. and walter is causing problems with one of my neighbors who doesn't appreciate him going around the yard stealing eggs before she can pick them up. its a little awkward. anyhow, as soon as the rain let up today i was out the door on my way to town to see if my packages arrived. rumor is that i have some coming. nope not yet. no mail at all. its ok, i'm really sharpening my waiting kills. its good practice. so now i 've waited for the electricty and internet to come back on here. it did. good.

and now is a waiting game for the rainy season to end. it just started but i'm already ready for it to be over. its virtually impossible for me to get any teaching done because the schools and health center are all at least a couple km away. most things shut down anyway so i guess this gives me more time to plan. and wait.



with all this this rain i've had a lot of visitors that stay a while as we wait for it to lighten up. my three favorite kids came over one morning and decided to stay the whole day. Enosh 4, Musa 5, and Nathan 6, spent the day with me listening to garth brooks christmas carols and U2, helping me light my fire (i literally was letting kids play with fire...oops), and helping me plant some beans and pumpkin. we would sprint out the door as soon as the down pour would break. i would poke the holes in the garden and they dutifully followed dropping one seed in each whole. they were great helpers. i've also been watching the women here a lot. i know, yes, that sounds kind of creepy but its not i swear. i just have noticed how relentlessly they work. this morning i was taking walter for a walk in the rain and i saw a woman, with a crying baby strapped to her back, hoeing her farm, another women, again with a baby strapped on, was carrying water on her head while herding her cows down to pasture. amazing. there is a quote in a book by barbara kingslover that describes east african women as "ballet dancers who are completley unaware that they are unstage." so true. the book is called the Poisonwood Bible if anyone is interested. it paints a pretty accurate picture of east africa and and the missionary efforts here in the last century.

i miss you guys and love you! happy holidays!

10 things i've learned in africa

Tomorrow marks my having been here for 6 months. These are the ten most valuable things i've learned since i've been here
10. Swahili (obviously)
9. How to haggle...if you thought i was fiesty before, you should see me now
8. the right drugs to treat HIV opportunistic infections with ...since they have me play doctor here
7. make compost
6. cook
5. to like the smell of charcoal
4. light a kerosene lamp
3. not barf when someone slaughters a chicken in front of me
2. wash my hair with regular bar soap
1. pick insect egg sacks out of my foot

but mostly (i couldn't number it) is how much i miss my family and friends and how much i miss you all. its especially hard right now during the holidays.
also to answer some questions i've gotten about donations: there are about 20 kids that need sponsorship. if you can't completley sponsor a kid, give what you can, don't worry about it. also marebear asked if you can forward the message to people that don't know me. YESSS! as long as they feel comfortable with the deal, then i'm comfortable. i'll send emails, letters, phone calls to whomever wants them. just send me the info. thanks everyone for all your support, seriously. i feel it and it means a lot.

Begging for money

Happy Chanukah, Christmas, or Kwanza (which only exists in America and Africans think is hysterical)!! I hope the holiday season is treating everyone as well as it has been treating me thus far. I had amazing thanksgiving with lots of friends, little kids, food, and drumming. All the essentials.
Well, you knew it was coming. I’m sure you did. Once you heard I was joining Peace Corps and coming to Africa on some misguided attempt to save the world, you knew the inevitable plea for money would shortly follow. And you weren’t wrong, here it is. I don’t like doing it, no one likes asking for money, and I’ll only do it once I promise, so this is it. I know it’s the holiday season and everyone is already spending money. And I know the economy is bad, really bad, but I’m asking anyway because the kids here need it bad, really bad.
I the kids that I am requesting money for are orphans from the village, Lwang’a, I live in. They all have passed the test to go to secondary school but can’t scrape up the money to afford it. They are all bright kids but have had to struggle thus far with loosing one or both parents to HIV and depending on an impoverished village to support them. Here are the numbers:

School fees for the year: $16.00USD
Uniform Set (skirt/pants, blouse, sweater): $20.00 USD
Shoes: $12.00 USD
Math set (required): $2.50 USD
7 Notebooks (one for each subject): $23.00 USD
Paper: $2.50 USD
Misc (Id card, bookbag, pens): $8.00 USD total
Total :$ 84.00 USD to send a kid to secondary school for a year

Since I’m asking for money and I said I’d only do it once, there is also another project I’m working on. The primary school has over 800 kids attending and only two toilets. Once for boys one for girls. It is a health and sanitation problem. The school committee and I are working on a plan to build at least 6 more toilets. They have asked for donations from the community in the form of money, materials, or labor and we have a had a great response. Everyone understands that this is really important. BUT, we’re still short on the cash. Here’s how much it costs:
1 bag of cement: $12.50USD
1 sheet of tin for roofing: $13.00 USD
1 kg of nails: $2.00 USD
1 rolls of fencing: $11.50 USD

What we need is 13 bags of cement, 15 sheets of tin, 5kg of nails, and 12 rolls of fence. Lumber, paint, and labor is being donated by teachers and village members.

So here is my plea: if you have some extra money, donate it. Please. You can donate however much you want to go to whatever you want, this is just the breakdown so you can see how far your money is going here. It goes a long way and actually changes lives here. If you donate you’ll get a letter in the mail from a student, his or her picture and your name painted on the outside of finished bathrooms. (I know just what you always wanted, your name on a toilet)
Here is the weird part, getting the money to me. I’ve set up a separate savings account for this village but it is under my name with Washington Mutual. That means you have to write the checks to me. I feel weird about this but it seems to be the simplest and fastest way to get money actually working for these people. You can write the checks to me, Kimberly Heller (if you didn’t know who was writing this), and on the memo line include whether you want the money to go to secondary school sponsorship or you want it to go the primary school bathrooms. If you don’t care you can just say “Lwang’a schools”. Send it to my home address in the states and my dad will put it in my account. As soon as I get it, I’ll send you an email verifying.

What do you think?
Can you help? I’d think you’re a rockstar and kids here will owe their future to you…. no exaggeration. And just all those people you can’t figure out what to get for Christmas, you can donate a bag of cement in their name…. perfect. Just an idea. If you can’t right now cause things are just too tight, I totally get it. Don’t worry I’ll take donations all year!!! I’m asking now because the new school term starts in January so I’d like to get some of these guys started but its never too late to donate and there are always kids here to help. Ok that’s it. That’s the best I could do. If you have questions or ideas let me know. Email me, write me or even call!! Oh and feel free to forward this to someone you think might want to help
Happy Holidays and much, much love,
Kim

Send checks to:
425 Churchill Rd.
Sierra Madre, CA 91024

My email: kheller@ucla.edu
My address here: Kim Heller PCV
S.L.P.469
Makambako, Iringa
Tanzania
My phone number here: +255787404897

p.s. all my pictures saved on my jump drive got deleted when i actually used a computer with an antivirus....hugggggge bummer. ugh TIA right? and sorry if you already got this in an email or facebook message. just covering all my bases :)

Thanksgiving marathon

This Thanksgiving was one of the best. Definitley the most exhausting, but rediculously awesome. It started for me wednesday night when my site-mates (closest peace corps neighbors...10k away) came over to my house so that we could start our walk to the road (read: motorized transport) bright and early. Catherine came over in the afternoon and we felt very peace corps as we sat on my nicaraguan blanket reading about chakra realignment and meditating.... we felt that way for about ten seconds until my dog started to try to eat catherines hair while she was attempting a sun salutation. We then headed over to visit some of my best neighbors. about this time Mary and Mussa showed up and we all went over to Baba Desmondi's house. We visted a bit and got up to leave. "Oh no you can't leave we just started some tea and eggs for you all." hmmm... ok its 8:30 thats our usual bedtime, but of course you can't pass up tea and eggs, thats just rude. so we stay. we finish our eggs. Its time for us to go now, we have to be up bright and early for our 3 hour walk, so we better head out. "Oh no you can't go, we started rice, beans, and goat for you" well no one ever walks out on goat. even if you don't eat it (me) you don't leave once someone prepared you goat. goat is expensive and probably just killed for you. so we stayed. fast forward 3 hours. its midnight and we're stuffed and walking back to my house in the dark.

at 5:30 my alarm goes off and we get up to start our walk. but wait, my neighbors come over with tea and eggs for us to take on our journey (tea and eggs is evidently some sort of magical combination) so 6 o'clock we leave. we're quite a vision. three white girls rediculously tall kenyan/tanzanian and one little dog on a chain leash. we're off. after three hours of sweating and sining as many 90's songs as we can think of. Mussa our tanzanian can join in when we do country songs - turns out he's a big dolly parton fan- go figure. we arrive in Igowole and meet up with the other half of our travel crew. Ashleigh, Brianna, Cristina, and Laura are waiting for us. In honor of giving thanks they started the festivities with sampling some of Brianna's home made pineapple wine. so we are greated with some unexpectedly glazed over eyes. Apparently Brianna and her village let the fermentation process go on a little long... oops. we get some tea and bread. give walter a little water and 9 adult sized people and one dog pile into a taxi to get to Jenny and Jeff's house. Our thanksgiving day destination. please note that none of us have every been there and we have absolutley no idea where we are going. either does the taxi driver as we will soon find out. about two hours in, walter has been so good, oh wait... says laura, me and ashleigh turn to see walter through up his breakfast, completley undigested on ashleigh's sweater and my arm. and as we get the taxi to pull over to deal with the mess and ashleigh stands up we realize that walter did not only puke on ashleigh he also pooped. four round little turds rolls off ashleighs skirt as she stands up outside the cab. this is when we're all glad for the overfermented early morning pineapple wine....so now its just funny.

so we pile back in. 4 hours, 10 wrong turns, and 3 calls to jenny and jeff later, we get there. this is honestly one of the most beautiful places i've ever been. we're in the hills covered with tea fields and forest. its some kind of mix between the sound of music and gorillas in the mist. amazing. and when we get there we are greated by 15 beautiful african children and about 20 tired but happy Peace corps volunteer faces. we made it. we all spend the day exchanging stories, cooking, doing sing alongs with jeff on the piano or bango and jenny on the viola, and playing cards. it also seems everyone has brought a sampling of their village made wine. i've now tried pineapple, mango, papaya, and cherry wine. all great however strong. walter is in heaven as he plays with their two dogs and monkey. jenny is a peace corps volunteer who has finished her service and she and her fiance jeff now work with this non-profit. they have ana amzing house that includes, hardwood floors, gas, electricity, hot showers, and running toilets. bliss.

the next morning after dirinking strabucks coffee courtesy of jenny's american family and eating pie for breakfast we all procure rides out of the mountains to a town so that we can start the next leg of the journey. on this ride walter only pees on mary's lap. i think this is good progress. next stop kitelawasi village, alee's village. she couldn't come up with the money to make it to jenny's because she spent all her money funding a pottery wheel in her village as an income generating project. so we're coming to her. she's also a trained chef. she's been cooking all day and nine of us are greeted by alee, sam (who's been down visiting) and alee's fiance teso. we have a fantasic meal of chicken soup, tortillas, and salsa. and the night is capped off by a freestyle rap battle provided by our own justin of boston mass and a Maasi secondary school teacher from the village. it goes on for hours and is actually really impressive. they end the night agreeing to record together. so stay tuned. i'll let you know when their first album titled ebony and ivory drops.

the next morning is potato soup for breakfast. alee's been sick all night and the rest of us had been planning on going to iringa, a good sized town with a hospital, to finish up a report for peace corps. we all agree alee needs to be checked out since she has a fever of 102 so half of us get geared up to go to iringa while the other half is heading back to their villages. due to walter's track record of travel i leave him with catherine to take back to her village.

we arrive in iringa to a whole other group of white faces from peace corps we didn't expect to see. so that day is spent at the restuarants that cater to white tourists so they serve milkshakes, burgers, buritos, panini's, and pizza. the afternoon is snack time, they sell pringles here, and so we watch the Bourne Ultimatum on someone's computer and forget for a while that we are in africa and work with people dieing of aids everyday. that night is disco night. we all cheers each other and dance into the morning. not a bad thanksgiving if you ask me. i hope y'all had a good one too.

Cornuts, african markets, and domesticated animals

starting from the top picture: Carla sent me a package with corn nuts!!!! i of course did not savour them but inhaled them as a topping for the usual rice and beans. thanks carla, i love you!. next pic: catherine dancing in the market in makambako. this is what we do to entertain ourselves. next: there was a kitty sleeping on one of the charcol stoves they sell in the market. it was so cute. i tried to pet it but then it hissed at me and ran away... i sure have a way with cats. next: this is calista, she runs the internet cafe in makambako. its a thankless job.... mostly because the internet is usually down and so then noone says thank you... next: me and walter and a gift from my neighbors. i am super lucky that i have neighbors that take care of me. this was from their farm. i got onions, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, and bannanas. pretty sweet little care package. next: walter assuming his usual position. next: some of my best friends, iniki and aniti. iniki won't smile because she says her mouth is too big. which really means she has a big beautiful smile. last: a gift for my tutoring some kids in english

soooo life is pretty good. i've come to the end of my "settling in period." i finally have furniture. but there are no cushions yet. that comes after the next peace corps stipend.... still waiting. i do not yet have glass on my windows. i hope that will come soon because the rains are. i've been working a lot at the health center and really love it there. yesterday broke my heart though because a 10 year old AIDS patient came in to get his month worth of drugs. alone. he walked 25K just to get there. he's a sweet kid named Green with good T-cell counts so far. i'll be starting a garden in the next two weeks at the primary school. i'm very excited about that. so if anyone feels compelled to send me seeds.... don't fight it, send them!! i'll take whatever you've got. the food in the garden will go home with the kids as i teach them about nutrition and better health practices. also those of you who have said that you'd be interested in sponsoring a girl for secondary school: we will know who is eligible in december and so you'll all be getting letters in the mail soon.

walter is good. he has successfully destroyed two pairs of shoes and one set of portable speakers. thanks. but he's getting his big doggy teeth now so thats his excuse. next month he will be neutered...sorry walter but i feel it neccessary. it costs a whole 3 dollars...

we volunteers are getting ready for the holiday season. we're entertaining ourselves by meeting on thursday for a big shindig with a bunch of volunteers coming from all over then friday will be a small deal with a few who were short on bucks and couldn't travel. it seems no matter where you go you always have the holiday marathon. its ok though. i like it. christmas should be abou the same and new years will be spent camping in a national forest. i'm pretty excited about that. so thats it for me. i'll update soon. thats for the letters and packages (dad, thanks for the books, newspaper, and york pepermint patty :) carla: the bingo will be a hit i know it and the US weekly was read immediatly!) much love!

OBAMA PARTY!!

thats what brings me back into town so soon. since i don't have a radio that will get BBC and could listen to the election results come in i had to give myself two benadryl to fall asleep. maybe not the best move for a health volunteer but necessary cause there was no way sleep was going to come on its own given that in the morning we would have a new president. it's been really bizarre being in africa as the first african american president is elected in the U.S. some people are excited but most don't really understand why we would want a "non-american" (read: not white) to be president. this brings up a really interesting convo about what makes an american. american and what america really looks like. it blows people's minds when i show them pictures of my asian, black, persian, etc. friends....who are all american! these conversations also highlight the residual effect of colonialism in east africa. there is still a sense in these africans that white is better, smarter, and more able. i will have 90 year old men and women bowing and kissing my hands when i great them because to them i deserve respect for being white. it feels very backward and a little hard to swallow growing up in an america that at the very least preaches that respect is based on one's wisdom and accomplishments and has tried for the last 50 years to reject the idea that race inherently gives you status.

but my friends and i met here in the nearest town to hear the speeches and toast tanzanian made chocolate cake and frosting to our new president that i hope will bring something new and good into the world and not break our hearts. (the cynic in me is just waiting for the other shoe to drop.....)

i am still waiting for furniture to arrive. i ordered it over two months ago. but i guess this is africa time.everything else is good. i am having some frustration with my village and district government but the people here are mostly motivated, especially the kids. i've been tutoring four everyday in english. they wrote me letters requesting help... very cute. and its hard since education here is seriously not up to par. but little by little right?

today i also got some letters and a package!! thanks jessica, uncle brad, mom and dad, amy, grandma, jenna, and lauren for my letters and packages. it makes me feel not forgotten. i love you guys

i should start by apologizing for my last post. slightly dramatic one might say. but the computer was the only thing i had to entertain myself with for five days. it made me a little crazy. i'm better now. for the most part. still some headaches and dizziness but i'm told thats just post malaria stuff.

so here are some new pictures of my life. the first is of my brand new ginormous bed. but its my firt piece of furniture. the bed i was sleeping on before was borrowed from another villager. i was able to return that and now i have my own! then there is a picuture of walter. he's getting really big. but as he gets older he becomes a better cuddler. this works for me. especially in my new huge bed. the picture also includes my hoe. that i actually use to garden and tend my compost pile. be impressed. then there is a picture of me and walter before we set off on a biking adventure to take him to the vet two hours away to get a rabies shot. he lasted in the basket for about 2 minutes. the next pic is of Iniki, my best tanzanian friend (yes she's 13... so what?) and walter. her smile is really that big. the next picture is of a drawing i made on my court yard walls. if you can't tell its a turtle with the words "pole pole, kidogo kidogo, ndio mwendo." this roughly translates into slow and stead wins the race. i put this up to remind the villagers that my work with them will be slow but we will get there. they forget sometimes that i am only one person and can't do everything today. then there is a pic of me actually working with my hoe and turning my compost pile. yes i have a compost pile that is actually turning into workable compost. its a miracle. the next picture is my very first (however handwritten) public health poster to put up in the health center that promotes good nutrition and speaks of its benefits. it took a long time and i'm proud of it regardless of juveline it may look. people like colors right?

anyhow i'm in the city for two days for a water saftey and sanitation training. as you can imagine it enthralling. but its good and absolutley necessary. everything else is good. getting healthier so don't worry. i'll make it just fine. i miss everyone and i love hearing from you in posts or letters. keep sending them. it does get lonely here and i'm always interested in knowing whats going on in everyone's life.

Lalalalala. i'm sick.

so i'm on the floor of my courtyard tears washing clean canyons of dust on my face, writhing in the fetal position with pain, one hand holding walter for comfort the other holding the phone to my ear as a plead with peace corps to send a car to my site to pick me up. i don't feel good. i really don't feel good. this isn't like in third grade when i "wouldn't feel good" every tuesday when dad was off work and we had to do multiplication tables.

i was finally able to succesfully communicate this and within an hour a white land cruiser appears in front of my house with Salome, our saftey and security officer, floating out drapped in white like angel. seriously, i'm not making this up. she scooped me up and took me to Iringa, the nearest biggish city with a peace corps approved hospital. turns out i have malaria. that sucks. two days later i go back, malaria is gone but i have giardia which is an intestinal parasite that gives you diarreah and REALLY bad gas pains. two days later i still don't feel better. Peace corps says come to Dar es Salaam, the capital where their medical staff is. we're gonna figure this out. an eight hour bus ride later i arrive in Dar. Tired and sick. oh, peace corps medical staff says, we're not at the office we can't see you until tomorrow. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh. the next morning: probably a kidney infection, i've been peeing brown (i know you want all these details). fine. but kim, you'll have to come back on monday so we can do the blood tests to make sure its not something else. monday? what i am supposed to do here for the next two and half days. nothing. which is exactly what i've been doing. watching movies, sleeping, thats pretty much it. this morning i came back, monday, thank God. i get blood tests, medication for a kidney infection and told to wait two more days here until all the tests come back. what the eff am i supposed to do here for yet another two more days. Dar can be a really fun city if you're with friends and feel good. but it sucks when you're alone and feel like crap. i'm in the second category. so this post is me whinning. i wanna feel better but i want to go back to my village. i've got stuff to do there and i miss my friends there. and mostly i miss walter. he needs me.

one more thing

if anyone is wondering how they can help. the schools and health center desperatley need:
1. condoms
2. toothbrushes
3. toothpaste
4. books in swahili.....this has been a certain challenge for myself and past volunteers.
5. disposable cameras. we are working on a project for children living with parents with HIV/AIDS to make memory books since many of their parents will soon be gone and along with them any understanding of their past.
6. crayons, paper, and other coloring supplies (they have no creative outlet)
i'm working on all of these things also but if you have any connections let me know. i would be eternally greatful.


thanks everyone!!

just a little update

well i'm back in town again because of possible strep throat or misc. virus. just a heads up, if anyone has the compulsion to send me or my village mail or anything else it is best, if at all possible to put in a padded envelope. it come about twice as fast.
KIMBERLY HELLER PCV
S.L.P. 469
MAKAMBAKO, IRINGA
TANZANIA

just in case someone doesn't have it :) also i got a new phone number the last one was stolen...cool. here's the new number :+255787404897. just a funny little story: i have my own number saved in my phone as "me" because i can never remember it. i met a tanzanian from and NGO who asked for my number, i found it in my phone and handed it over. he took it and put my number in his phone. he now calls me "me". obviously something was lost in translation.

everything else is good. walter chewed through my sandal and my speaker wires this week but i fixed the sandals with duck tape. and my 15 year old neighbor repaired my speakers with matches and duck tape. very McGyver.

also some of my old mail that was sent to my previous address is slowly being forwarded to me. so if i still haven't replied its because i haven't gotten it yet.

volunteerism?

so try explaining volunteerism to tanzanians. its a luxury i never realized i had. its a completely non-senscical idea. they ask why would i leave america to live with no water or electricty. its a hard concept to wrap your head around...... here are some more pics from life here. a few of my dog. who is getting bigger everyday and that i have dubbed "walter the wonder dog" for the way his ears flap in the wind when he gets a good running start. also included is me getting my hair braided at my house. i asked if she knew how to braid white people hair and she said "its not the different." which meant no she didn't so those braids lasted about 1.3 hours. oh well it was fun anyways. also pics of my favorite neghbors, the secondary school, me and the head of the health center, then my friend mary and the head of the health center, a sunset in my village, my house, kids at the primary school that i love to hang out with. village life is good. not a whole lot to report except that i've been working at the health center taking over the aids clinic....they call me the "computer" because i work so fast. which i don't really....its relative. there is a lot of room for improvement as far as efficinecy is concerned. but i really like it there. i feel like i'm doing something. i'm also working on a water saftey and sanitation training to give to my village since diarreah is the number one cause of death in my area due to unsafe water.

i've been having lots of fun playing with walter and making my compost pile and meeting new people. when i come in to the city i meet lots of white people from different NGO's who are great connections. and i can get pizza and use the internet so i come into town about 1 time a month to enjoy these luxuries and see motorized vehicles.